An Australian man has become a global internet sensation after penning a complaint to an airline because he was seated next to a fat passenger.

Disgruntled Rich Wisken blogged about how he had been forced to sit next to a passenger that smelt "like the decaying anus of a deceased homeless man" who "appeared to be an infant hippopotamus".

"As I boarded the plane, I mentally high-fived myself for paying the additional $25 [£13.50] for an emergency seat," he wrote.

"As I got closer, I was relieved to see that it wasn't a dangerous semi-aquatic African mammal, but a morbidly obese human being. However, this relief was short-lived when I realised that my seat was located somewhere underneath him."

Wisken then goes on to describe in great detail the smell emanating from his fellow flyer.